Plaza Grocery Case Study Essay

I. INTRODUCTION Mr. Brad Holden is the executive vice president of the family-owned business chain of six branches, Plaza Grocery, in the metropolitan area. Mr. Holden’s recently been swamped with problems regarding his employees, specifically the stock employees considering they are paid according to what is stated in the hourly wage rate in the Federal Law. He observed that they are not efficient and effective enough in their jobs, which resulted to empty shelves and slow service most of the time. He also had a hard time in obtaining enough applicants for Plaza Grocery and worse is his employees are doing only the menial level of effort in their jobs. He also noticed that his employees are lacking motivational drives to strive harder in performing their jobs. With all these that he is facing through, he finally decided to look for possible solutions to these problems. He came up with consulting to a local compensation expert and talking to a small group and personally asking them what can remedy their slow and poor performance. The compensation expert recommended to Mr. Holden that he resort to the more contemporary compensation system. In the small group, some suggested an increase in their hourly wage rate, the others pitched in about incentives to be given for them to be motivated and work faster, while others did not have any comment. For this case study, we will be identifying the likely issues and problems. After which, we will provide the framework or basis of argument which will relate the lack of motivation or drive of the stock employees to the various models, theories and concepts discussed in class. We will recommend and suggest certain alternative courses of actions which might help Mr. Holden to properly motivate his employees as well as his employees to improve their performance. II. ISSUE/PROBLEM Brad Holden is facing a situation in his grocery store where there is trouble obtaining enough stock clerks/carryout workers to apply for the job. And when these applicants get hired they seem to lack the motivation to carry out their job which led to inefficient service and long checkout lines. These minimum hourly wage workers have expressed a desire for additional compensation. The problem that Brad needs to solve is which of the major economic incentive system he can use to motivate his employees to become productive and also to attract other applicants to apply for the job. III. OBJECTIVES The objective of this study is to identify different theories, concepts and models under human behavior that can be applied to understand the situation Brad is facing. It will also identify and discuss what possible economic incentive system the management can use and then provide system recommendation that would lead to the best way in solving the problem. IV. FRAMEWORKS/BASIS OF ARGUMENTS The difficulties that arise in Brad Holden’s family-owned grocery stores are attributed to the lack of motivation of employees. Lack of motivation can be a result of poor rewarding of employees. In Plaza Grocery, employees are only paid the usual wage rate or the minimum federal hourly wage. This can be a factor as to why the workers lack motivation in performing an effective and efficient job. Money, as a means of rewarding employees may serve as a great help for the company. It has status value and it represents to employees what their employer thinks of them. Using money as a reward is applicable in some of the motivational models previously studied. The expectancy model can be related to the company’s situation. Employees in Plaza Grocery wanted a higher hourly wage rate which implies that money can act as a strong motivator. If an employee wants more of it (valence), he believes that putting up an effort will produce successful desired performance (expectancy) and he trusts that monetary reward will follow better performance (instrumentality). Brad Holden can also consider the concept of incentives linking pay with performance. In order to get the employees motivated, he can adopt profit sharing. For profit sharing, employees are given a portion of the business’s profits. An implementation of this would get them encouraged to work harder and do whatever it takes to increase the sales of the business since they are looking after the possible income at the end. In addition, once the issue on wage is settled, the management can also do performance appraisal. Through this, performance of the employees can be evaluated and certain information about their work and its improvement will be discussed. This will make way for the employees to be more motivated and get rewarded. The concept of performance feedback can also be related to the situation of Plaza Grocery. With proper implementation of feedback, employees will be aware of what to do and how well they are meeting their goals. Some of the guidelines in giving feedback are the following: be specific, allow room for choices, include positive factors to praise, establish priorities for change, and check for understanding to name a few. V. ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTIONS Nowadays, we can find different kinds of grocery stores around us and the supermarket is being dominant than local market in terms of quickness and accessibility to people. As we mentioned, it is not wrong that quickness of the market is one of the crucial thing that has to be maintained first. To solve Plaza Grocery’s problem about its workers’ lack of motivation, we would like to recommend three alternative courses of action. First, Brad Holden should figure out why employees seem to lack motivation once he hired them because motivation can be the core of the power source that can make the work environment vivid or dull. Hence, we would like to state our first course of action, which we call â€Å"ownership project†. Brad Holden should encourage and convince the workers to think of themselves as a co-owner of the company or workplace. Before the hired applicants become permanent employees, they would undergo an assessment. Their behavior in the workplace would be examined for at least one month to evaluate their attitude toward their work. After the examination, Brad can educate the qualified employees through orientations on how to work efficiently and effectively. Second, an â€Å"incentive system† can be a good course of action for workers to work faster since money can be a good motivator and reward. If Brad Holden continues to pay the employees at the minimum wage without bonus, the employees would not exert effort to do their work harder and faster. Increasing of hourly wage rate can be a course of action, along with providing incentives. When the hourly wage rate is increased alone, all employees would benefit. This may increase the workers productivity and motivation, but not fully since the benefit applies to all. Therefore, it will be better if Brad Holden applies an incentive system or bonus system. The incentives given would be based on the employee’s performance, measured by his/her productivity. Through this, it can be more assured that the workers will be motivated in their work to earn their money more. Third, under incentive system, manager should appraise who got the highest performance result among the workers, and provide incentives like support for old parents or education of children. This alternative course of action is enough to motivate workers because these concern their families. Brad Holden will have to make records of each employee to check their performance and growth and this environment can create competition among workers. VI. RECOMMENDATION/CONCLUSION Plaza Grocery experiences problems with its employees due to low compensation and lack of incentives. Even after consulting a local expert, the same causes are pointed as the reason for the employees’ poor performance. Given this situation, we recommend the company to apply the second alternative course of action, which is to increase the wage rate and apply an incentive system. The store, having only six branches, can easily increase the wages due to the relatively small number of workers. However, once an increase is implemented in one branch, the same shall be applied in the other branches to emphasize the sense of equity among the employees of all branches. Although this may entail costs for the company, the increase in workers’ productivity may lead to higher sales, providing more revenue. In the long-run, the benefits would outweigh the costs. Although increasing the wage rate may motivate the employees to work harder, it is not enough because it would not always and ultimately lead to the satisfaction of their needs. What the company can do is to adopt an incentive system. The incentives the company can offer may be financial or non-financial in nature. Financial incentives would include performance bonuses, social security benefits, and paid absences. Non-financial incentives would include recognition and feeling of achievement, advancement opportunity, and flexible scheduling. Even though it is said that money is one of the best rewards, the non-financial rewards can also stimulate the employees’ motivation. It is not enough that employees are financially well-off. For them to stay long in the company, both the salary and the working conditions have to be satisfied. However, as we learned in class, according to Herzberg’s Two Factor Model, the pay is part of the hygiene factors, while the work itself is a motivational factor. Therefore, the employees must first be satisfied with their wage before the company can meet the motivational factors. In conclusion, Plaza Grocery has to strengthen its workforce’s motivation by providing them just wages and work incentives. This entails an investment on the part of Plaza Grocery. But once the workers are motivated and their productivity gradually increase, Plaza Grocery will see itself being better-off in the future.

Discovery and Hypothesis-based Science Approach Essay

The article, taken from the New York Times on March 03, 2009, tackles about the possible reasons for an increase in land fires in Indonesia. It was a claim that tried to defy the common thinking that drought is usually the cause of these fires, and showed several evidences to prove it. Upon reading the whole article and the study itself, one can easily conclude that the scientists used the discovery approach. The researchers began collecting data for the sole reason of gaining a better understanding on the possible causes of land fires. They did not formulate a hypothesis prior to data collection, nor did they think of draught as being the plausible cause. As a matter of fact, their first interpretation of their data is that low levels of rainfall correlates with increase chances of having wild fires. However, the results also show other significant data, on which the scientists draw their new conclusions from. It is then hypothesis based on the experiment already made. The researchers, in order to obtain just results, studied previous reports and cases of fires from the 1960’s to 2006. Aside from obtaining the obvious results regarding the low amount of rainfall, they found out a big difference on fire outbreak on Sumatra and Kalimantan – that even though these islands experience the same amount of rainfall, fires became common in Kalimantan only during the 1980s. Further data led to the researchers to hypothesize that the increase of population during the 1980s posed a great threat to the environment, for the government started to switch to large agri-business, which tends to abuse the land and cause accidental fires. Although the experiment did not use any control groups, I think that their case does not require one at all. The only possible question is whether the data they obtained were as accurate as possible. They mentioned that data obtained after the 1990’s were from fire-monitoring satellites, but those from the 1960s to the 1980s were merely from visibility records from airports. These can then be causes of discrepancies, since the method for data collection is not the same for all. Further more, what may be a fire signal for a fire-monitoring satellite may not be as such in the view from an airport. Aside from these, the report and the scientific approach seemed to be done well. They were able to obtain results that would significantly change man’s outlook on the environment. Article 2. Theory and Experiment Meet, and a New Form of Boron Is Found In this article, published in the New York Times last February 4, 2009, a great discovery was mentioned and brought up to the world. It is the isolated or creation of a new kind of boron. This element, as the article explains, have been studied by many scientist for around 200 years. Several boron compounds have come into existence, but it was only in 1909 where an almost pure, about 99%, boron was isolated. This then triggered the continuing study to locate other kinds of boron, such as what was done with carbon and hydrogen. In 2004, two researchers were able to produce a new kind of boron, one that is very stable and almost as hard as a diamond. It was done on super high pressure, and is very heat resistant and remains its hardness even after removing the pressure. Although the facts seem to state that this is a discovery science, the presence of the history and previous studies suggest this to be a hypothesis-based approach. They knew before hand that it is possible for boron to undergo different forms, and that the first three was not as stable as it should be. With this under their belt, they proceeded into testing new variables that would create the super-stable boron. And by altering the pressure, they were able to do that. The experiment was simply straight forward, done independently by the researchers only with no sponsors or any product endorsement. It was a simply experiment backed up by hypothetical information and theory from previous studies. The experiment was valid, since the product was also tested via several laboratory procedures to confirm its identity as boron. Computer-based crystallography analysis was also done to corroborate the stability of the element. As far as the experimental method and the results, the researchers were able to do a perfectly valid scientific experiment. Article 3. From Tons of Manure, a Growth Industry This final article, also from the New York Times newspaper, was published on March 1, 2009. It is about how two researchers were able to convert their farm cow manure into something more efficient and useful. The whole project took about 8 years, and a $72,000 grant from the Agricultural Business Cluster for the Cowpots to be born. These are flower seeding pots made directly from the manure of cows. Today, the industry has bloomed to its fullest, being able to produce several pots and attaining the interest of many costumers. As suggested by the facts and figures above, the researchers used a hypothesis-based scientific approach in this project. The mere fact that a grant was given means that a proposal was submitted to the grantor. It is then possible that within this proposal, the proponents of the project already outlined their possible hypothesis and even the methodology to attain answers to their problem. It is then a pre-planned idea, which began with a question and a hypothesis. Although the paper did not specify the exact procedure undertaken by the researchers in creating the Cowpots, the process seemed to be a combination of trial and error testing on the product’s ability to grow plants. It is then possible that a company, particularly those that are from or connected in any way to the Agricultural Business Cluster, could benefit from the project itself. But nothing was explicitly said on the paper. In addition to this, the study also used control groups, particularly in testing their pots. They mentioned of side-by-side comparison with normal seeding pots. These are entirely valid, and are in fact a great way to test the effectiveness of their product. Works Cited All articles were obtained from the New York Times Newspapers dated March 03, 2009, February 4, 2009 and March 1, 2009.

Writing a Victorian Mystery Novel

Victorian novels are literatures written with the neo-Victorian theme. During the Victorian era, named after the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria, novels were the leading form of English literature. Many English writers, sometimes referred to as â€Å"Victorian novelists†, created legacy as their works were very much appealing to the English speaking communities as well as countries like France and Russia. Until today, works of these novelists still continue to attract people in reading novels as well as writing Victorian murder mystery novels.This essay is about writing novels using the key elements of the Victorian murder mystery style. In writing a Victorian murder mystery novel, there are important elements that should be taken into consideration. The Little Professor has written some â€Å"Rules for Writing Neo-Victorian Novels† which are very much useful in the writing process. I will be using Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Speckled B and as an example of a novel written in the neo-Victorian murder mystery style.It is in the form of detective fiction which indeed was very popular. Perhaps the most important element of the neo-Victorian novels is the use of female role models. Victorian wives are usually portrayed as unfulfilled in their emotional and sexual needs resulting to illicit love affairs which create tension in the story—the flesh and blood of the Victorian novels. Other issues also arise from hostile treatment of women especially in the countryside. The Adventure of Speckle Band used this idea though in a different way.Dr. Roylott, the main perpetrator of the novel, was determined to kill his step daughters as soon as they were engaged for the annuity they were about to receive from their late mother. Of course, any case could never be solved without the help of the main character. In The Adventure of Speckle Band, Doyle’s presentation of the fictional character, Sherlock Holmes, and his a mazing deductive and inductive abilities always bring the readers into the scenes drawn into the character’s mind.Throughout the novel, and the whole Sherlock Holmes series, the character was held mysterious but was a great man. Victorian murder mystery novels have heroes and heroines who possess great analytical abilities as the Victorian novels are not much of picturesque and burlesque which were common in the Renaissance literature. Finally, endings must be less of a happy ending. Victorian novels talk about grim experiences of women (and men) living in cities and hostile treatments in the fast-paced changing of female role models in the countryside.Although the Victorian novels were patterned through grim experiences, the endings still show that â€Å"hard work, perseverance, love and luck†, dubbed as good characteristics, win against evil schemes. Reference Rules for Writing Neo-Victorian Novels. 15 March 2006. The Little Professor. 9 May 2007 . The Adventure of t he Speckled Band. 24 April 2007. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 9 May 2007 < http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Speckled_Band >.

Will The Paperless Office Ever Become A Reality Essay

Will The Paperless Office Ever Become A Reality - Essay Example It has been known that the debate on the paperless office becoming a reality has been raging on for quite some time and many individuals involved in this debate have had their own facts & figures that support the stand that they have taken. This essay would therefore work towards using all such reviews found from various articles and internet sources for providing suitable information on how the paperless office is poised to become a reality in the near future. During the past few years, with the introduction of he electronic mediums and with the option of being able to do almost all our work using this medium in the form of computers and software, it has been assumed that many have started to shun using paper wherever possible. On a similar note, there have been instances where people have not been in favor of using the electronic medium for activities such as reading novels, reports etc. of course, e-books continue to be an important form for storing information, but they are limited to technical manuals as on today. In this context, it is interesting to know that around 30-40% of work is done on papers.

Methods of Integration as Leadership Tools Assignment

Methods of Integration as Leadership Tools - Assignment Example According to the paper findings, it can, therefore, be said that there are three types of integration namely: forward/downstream vertical integration, backward/upstream vertical integration, and balanced vertical integration which incorporates upstream and downstream integration. Vertical integration is a situation whereby a company dominates a market by controlling the steps in the production. This is usually from the initial stage of extraction of raw materials, the manufacturing process to the sale of the final product. Vertical integration is best conceptualized through the use of the value chain. For instance; an assembly company may practice backward integration by venturing into manufacturing or forward integration by venturing into distribution. Vertical integration implies that there is a proper communication channel that links the whole corporation with the headquarters. This ensures that each subsidiary can be constantly monitored to enhance efficiency. Vertical integratio n is often seen as a way to exercise effective leadership and proper control in a company. It enables the company to significantly reduce the uncertainties that are usually encountered with the supply chain. Upstream (backward) vertical integration is exhibited when a company has control over subsidiaries that produce inputs used to produce its products. For example, a steel company that owns steel mines where the ore is extracted, coal mines to supply coal and the railroads to transport the raw materials to the factory may be said to practice backward integration. Downstream (forward) vertical integration is exhibited when a company controls the distribution centers and retail outlets where its products are sold. Taking an example of McDonald’s, forward integration would be by way of owning multiple distribution centers and fast food retail outlets.

The real Conscientious Objection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The real Conscientious Objection - Essay Example Every household is predominantly blessed with this â€Å"necessity† of life. From entertainment to important events, the popularity of television has grown inevitably beyond boundaries to such an extent that it has become a preference for people around the globe, making it more difficult to improve television standards in favor of the societies. Neil Postman, a renowned critic, has taken the much needed step to illuminate the disasters of this media in the form of his collection – â€Å"The Conscientious Objections†. True to its name, this book truly highlights numerous issues that burden the conscience. With respect to media, Postman intelligibly covers the minute analysis for news and commercials as a mode of communication. The appreciable element of Postman’s critique is the unbiased appreciation for the limitations of television commercials and news while determining the moral issues attached with it. The objections raised by Postman are numerous, all of vital importance, such as delivering incomplete and fabricated information. It is important to note that these are not same, but both do result in the seclusion of truth from people. Postman also highlighted the cultural changes caused by television evolving entire societies, however, these cultural manipulations do not stem from television itself but rather from the developments occurring around the world. Details are covered in the paper. The Real Conscientious Objection: The commercial television of the current era has negative impacts on the society in a number of ways. From obsessive television watching to being exposed to inappropriate information – the television has been accredited for the unhealthy attitudes developing in the individuals of our society. The analysis of ethicality of the current practices of concerned television authorities in the light of Neil Postman’s â€Å"Conscientious Objection† is discussed hereafter. The most important conscie ntious objection posed by television is the incompleteness and at times, fabrication of information projected by this medium. With regards to television commercials and news both, the projected idea of the subjects is more often insufficient to cover the actual object. This results in individuals carrying around a distorted and deceiving perception of the reality, believing it to be the truth. This hampers the intellect of these individuals in their personal and public decision making processes, incurring losses on themselves. Even though the case is similar for both news and commercials, â€Å"The whole problem with news on television comes down to this: all the words uttered in an hour of news coverage could be printed on one-page of a newspaper. And the world cannot be understood in one page† (Postman 72). It is therefore needless to say that the news projected on television is rarely ever complete. Additionally, â€Å"Unless (people) also read newspapers and magazines, t elevision viewers are helpless to understand their world† (Postman 78). This implies the severity of this phenomenon, indicating the briefness of television broadcasts. Relying solely on television as the authentic source of information is an unwise practice on behalf of a major part of population. The case of television commercials is more drastic for its creative and delusional content. â€Å"Television commerci

What makes a place a home Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

What makes a place a home - Essay Example A house is simple a dwelling place but a home is said to be a livable place where families and friends can enjoy the company of each other, sharing intrinsic and intangible values such as peace, happiness and especially, love. Looking further into the contradictions, this paper will discuss in detail how the aforementioned characteristics turn a house into a home. A house simply caters to one’s physical needs. Since shelter is one of man’s basic needs, a dwelling place then becomes necessary but having a place to stay does not always mean a person has a home. A house is devoid of values such as peace. For instance, one has a sanctuary to call but it is only a place to cover him from the heat of the sun, the pouring of the rain or the cold winter nights. The place may give him the needed protection from the weather but it may not give him peace of mind because of other dangers such as robbers, murderers and other criminal acts. Therefore, the man may always be in fear. O n the other hand, a place is called a home when it provides a peaceful and comfortable habitation. A home give the dweller peace of mind because it does not only provide shelter through the changing seasons but also give an emotional and psychological assurance that the person will be far from any danger. In addition, this can also be extended to the condition of the dwellers themselves. For instance, in a house, the people living in it may always be fighting even over trivial matters. Therefore, the place only serves as a place for the family to find shelter. Nevertheless, a home will not only do that but will also give a welcoming atmosphere to all the people living in it. This becomes true when the people there are at peace with each other, making each other feel comfortable in order for them to make others stay and not want to move away. Secondly, a home is a dwelling place filled with happiness. There are so many things that bring people happiness such as food, valuables and a good company. A house filled with such things make up a home. One cannot say an abode is a home when it merely serves to provide shelter, being lacking in other important things. A place where there is no available food brings bad experiences such as pictures of a hunger so that one would not dare go to when he is in need of food. Lack of food is one of the reasons of many fights among family members. A mother trying to earn money to buy food for her two children can easily get mad at her husband who is wasting all his money on alcohol and drugs and does not even try to find a job. In such case, there is no peace and therefore, there will be no happiness. A place where entertainment and other valuable materials are not available as well cannot be fully called a home because material possessions bring happiness to people especially in these modern times. In relation to the discussion on peace, happiness will also be absent when peace is deprived in the house. In other words, when one is at peace with himself and his dwelling place, his residence can be called a home. Moreover, when he is at peace with the other people in the house, happiness is shared among them and therefore the place is called a home. Lastly, a lodging is called a home when there is love. Peace and happiness may be experienced by a lone dweller but love is only experienced between two or more people. From such definition, it could be said that a house cannot be fully called a home when there is no love that is shared in it. Therefore, a person who lives alone in a beautiful and comfortable house where all his needs are provided for does not live in a home but a house. The loneliness felt in such a place explains why one person would not want to abide in the residence forever. Some

Operation analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Operation analysis - Essay Example Thus, the proponent emphasises the two chosen measures of operational performance for McDonald’s by explaining their importance and their capacity to help manage McDonald’s operation effectively. Company Background The company is an international icon as the leading fast food chain restaurant operating in an international coverage. Thus, it is important to learn a little background about this company as far as global foodservice retailing and performance evaluation measures are concerned. There were 22 million people worldwide served by McDonald’s in 1994 (Lyon et al., 1994). This figure rose more than twice which correspondingly one of the most important bases why McDonald’s declares to be the leading global foodservice retailer (McDonald’s, 2011). McDonald’s does not only cater to the needs of the consumers, as well as its franchisers. The reason why McDonald’s continues to flaunt its achievements is to entice international franchise rs in order to continuously help the brand grow for the better. Today, there are more than 32,000 McDonald’s local restaurants in 117 countries which approximately cater around 60 million people. This alone is enough to entice local business persons to go for foodservice retailing through McDonald’s franchising. At present, 75% of McDonald’s restaurants are globally owned or operated by local business people. Among of the world’s favourites at McDonald’s are its world famous fries, big mac, quarter pounder, chicken mcnuggets, and egg mcmuffin. Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s had established a good foundation for the company. He was successful in passing on the vision from generation to generation. This makes McDonald’s one of the best companies that can remarkably give important insights on how a business should function according to the basic business principles and even in areas of complicated situations. McDonald’s without q uestion is good at establishing both its internal and external control. This paves way to probable interrelated relationship between the company’s management control system and its strategies (Kober et al., 2007). In every business, control is important because it paves way to strategic management system (Nilsson and Olve, 2001). It is in this reason that control has become one of the most important options in business operation in order to evaluate existing strategies prior to the achievement of corporate goals. It is in line with this that performance measurement and management control have become strongly related with each other prior to effectively enhancing efficient business operation (Epstein, 2004). Measures of Performance – McDonald’s The main content of this paper includes two general performance measures that can be applied in an organisation. Particularly, the proponent includes financial perspective and customer perspective as two general performanc e measures that can be applied at McDonald’s. These two measures are essential perspectives of the balanced scorecard as a set of performance measures from the company’s strategies in order to support its strategy and generally its operation in the long run (Garrison and Noreen, 2000). Financial Performance Measure In the midst of tough competition most firms are apt to stimulate needs for their service or product offerings (Kotler et al., 1999; Boone and Kurtz, 2006). This is eventually relevant in the case of McDonald’s. The current market trend demands for more healthy foods which eventually tries to ward off consumers from

Wealth and Poverty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Wealth and Poverty - Essay Example From this study it is clear that  underdeveloped nations are those that have poor systems of governance, economic as well as welfare of the people. These countries have poorly developed infrastructure that is essential for economic development, in addition, their education system does not play a major role in empowering its people to be innovative and creative, for this reason, its people live in poverty.According to the report  wealth can be defined as the plentiful or abundance of valuable resources and possessions that can be exploited by an individual or a country. An individual, community, region or country having these resources is said to be wealthy, however, the lack of awareness about the availability of these resources and means to exploit them can leave an individual or that party being dependant. Poverty, in contrast to wealth, means a general scarcity, in this case, it may refer to an individual or state as well. Poverty, just as wealth can also be defined according to the context in which it is being derived, however; there are two main approaches to this issue, it can be absolute or relative poverty. Absolute poverty can be described as a situation where people in a certain place have minimal or no access to the basic requirements of life, which are; food, shelter and clothing. On the other hand, relative poverty refers to the situation where people are completely barred from taking part in what is considered as a normal and acceptable standard of life in a community or society in general.

Eating disorder in adolescent Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Eating disorder in adolescent - Research Paper Example Eating disorders tend to develop during adolescence and are much more common to girls and women, where the causes of these disorders are related to psychological and medical issues such as low self esteem, depression, anxiety, trouble coping with emotions and substance abuse. Additionally, eating disorders start by eating less or more than the usual, where the behaviour goes out of control and gets taken over by the person’s life. Smolack and Thompson (32) argue that although the symptoms of eating disorders are known to originate primarily in adolescence, most studies have revealed that these disorders emerge due to lack of solid knowledge on how to eat well and live healthy. Obesity in adolescents has now become a very serious matter, leading to health risks such as hypertension, respiratory problems, mellitus and orthopaedic disorders (Cooper and Stein 76). Matsumoto and Herrin (32), discuses the three types of eating disorders Anorexia, Bulimia and Binge eating disorders , where Anorexia is a condition where an adolescent refuses to eat adequate calories out of an intensive and irrational fear of becoming fat and this condition has greatly risen in the past years among these adolescents. Few cases of Anorexia lead to recovery since some experience alternative bouts of weight gain and weight loss and through this conditions tend to emerge as a result of treatment such as depression and low self esteem among the adolescents. Anorexia has been known to increase risks of deaths among these adolescents and they come as a result of starvation, suicide, and severe low levels of potassium, (Matsumoto and Herrin 33). Anorexia is better when discovered and treated in early stages, since it prevents against mortality among the adolescents. Effective treatments for disorders in eating have been availed to, because Anorexic

External Business Environment for the New Entrants Research Paper

External Business Environment for the New Entrants - Research Paper Example Changing demographics are again important because of the base of individuals who comprise the music industry particularly those belonging to electronic dance music (EDM). The audience including producers and disk jockeys fall in the age bracket of 13 to 35. Social Issues The shift in social life to digital space has impacted the music industry greatly with digital platforms like iTunes, Beatport, and other stores transforming the social life of avid music listeners and music makers. Competitors Competitors of my chosen record label, Monstercat, compete on the basis of content, artist or music which defines the various record labels apart from genres. New entrants New entrants into the music industry are quite frequent due to the emergence of various free online platforms like YouTube, Soundcloud, iTunes, and Bandcamp to name a few. Substitutes and Compliments Indeed there is availability of wide amounts of substitutes however fan loyalty goes a long way in maintaining consumer stickiness. Also, musical collaborations are now a common occurrence. Customers The customer’s loyalty affects competitiveness immensely as this is what provides support for the record labels in terms of sales. Questions 1. The record label I chose, Monstercat, has adapted to its external environment really well by responding to the changes that were needed such as maintaining most of their presence online so that they can connect with upcoming producers, artists, vocalists, promoters, and so on. Also, it has developed various instruments to allow it to release their music to millions of its fans online. 2. Monstercat has inspired a generation of avid and enthusiastic producers who want to get signed on the label. The label has influenced the external environment with its unique content and music that it releases on specific genres of EDM such as chillstep, trap, progressive house, and so on.

Sodium Thiosulphate and Hydrochloric Acid Coursework Essay Example for Free

Sodium Thiosulphate and Hydrochloric Acid Coursework Essay In this experiment I will be seeing how the concentration of Sodium Thiosulphate, Na2S2O3, and Hydrochloric Acid, HCl, affects the rate of the reaction. In this reaction the solution turns milky yellow as sulphate is displaced and forms a solid precipitate. Na2S2O3 (aq) + 2HCl (aq) - 2NaCl (aq) + H2O (l) + SO2 (aq) + S (s) The Rate of a reaction can be represented as: ?concentration and so is the time ? time taken for the reactants to be used up. Therefore I will be investigating if either: Rate ? [Na2S2O3]x or/and Rate ? [HCL]Y where X and Y are the orders of the reaction. To calculate the rate equation and orders of the reaction I am going to use the log function: As Rate ? [Na2S2O3]x and Rate ? [HCL]Y Rate = k1 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ [Na2S2O3]x Rate = k2 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ [HCl]Y Take logs logRate = logk1 + X log[Na2S2O3] logRate = logk2 + Y log[HCl] eq. of line Y = C + M X Y = C + M X This shows how the power, and order of the reaction, can be found by drawing a graph of logRate against log[concentration] and the gradient of the line will give the order of the reaction. The two equations can then put together to give an overall rate equation: Rate = k à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ [Na2S2O3]x[HCl]Y Experimentally I will be changing the concentrations of each the reactants independently and then calculating the rate for each concentration. From these rates I will be able to draw a log graph of rate against concentrations and from my calculation I can find the orders for each of the reactants. Variables The independent variable in the experiment is the initial concentrations of Sodium Thiosulphate and Hydrochloric Acid. I will be changing this variable and seeing how it affect the time taken for the reaction to take place and therefore how the concentration affects the rate of the reaction. However as only one variable can be changed I will keep one reactant constant whilst changing the other to get a fair set of results. This will show me the affect of each reactant on the rate independently. The dependent variable is the one that will be monitored in the reaction. The dependent variable is the time taken for the reaction to take place which can be used to calculate the rate of the reaction. The method I will be using is by seeing how long it takes for a black cross underneath the conical flask to disappear which will be the point in all the reactions where the concentration of the sulphur precipitate is equal and so will the rate can be fairly calculated. To reduce errors I will need to use my preliminary results to find a volume that will give a long enough time to measure accurately, but not too long to affect the rate which is calculated by dividing initial concentration by time. These graphs show how if the time taken for the reaction to reach a specific concentration is too long it will not be a true reflection on the actual initial rate of the reaction. The first variable that must be controlled is the temperature of the reactions. This is because temperature will affect the rate of the reaction as a higher temperature will cause an increase in the rate. If the temperature varies between reactions it will have an affect on the results. To try and insure the same temperature is used I will have all reactants at room temperature and carry out all the reactions in one lesson. Another control is the the volume of reactants used and the depth of the solution. If this is changed the amount of precipitate that will need to be observed through will change and therefore the concentration at which the cross disappears will be different. To control this the same volumes will be used and the same conical flask will be used and therefore the depth will be the same. Similarly the cross used will need to be the same as a thicker cross would mean it will disappear at a different concentration of sulphur and the results will not be fair. Finally I w ill not shake or move the conical flask once the reactants have been put together as this again might affect the rate of the reaction. Equipment 1. 200cm3 of Na2S2O3 1. 200cm3 of HCl 2. 10 x 50cm3 beakers 3. 2 x Graduated Pipettes 4. Conical Flask 5. Stopwatch Method 1. Start by making the concentrations, using a graduated pipette measure out the correct volumes of Sodium Thiosulphate and put into 5 small 50cm3 beakers. Then add the corresponding amounts of distilled water and label with the correct concentration. 2. Secondly draw a black cross onto a piece of paper which is no bigger than the base of the conical flask, place the conical flask on top of the flask. 3. Using another graduated pipette, place 25cm3 of 2M hydrochloric acid into the bottom of the conical flask. 4. Whilst standing above the conical flask, looking directly down, simultaneously pour the first concentration of Na2S2O3 into the conical flash and start the stopwatch. 5. Keep observing and when the yellow precipitate causes the cross to completely disappear stop the stopwatch. 6. Record the time taken, wash out the conical flask thoroughly and repeat from step 3 but using the next dilution until all the concentrations have been reacted and recorded. 7. Repeat all results and average times. 8. Secondly replace the Sodium Thiosulphate with the HCl and copy above steps by measuring out correct concentrations and place into 5 more 50cm3 beakers. 9. This time add 25cm3 of Na2S2O3 into the bottom of the conical flask before recording the time taken for the cross to disappear again, for all the concentrations. 10. Repeat all results again for HCl concentrations. Initial Rates can then be calculated. Dilution Tables Na2S2O3 Concentration / moldm-3 Na2S2O3 (1M) / cm3 Distilled Water / cm3 1.0 20 0 0.8 16 4 0.6 12 8 0.4 8 12 0.2 4 16 HCl Concentration / moldm-3 HCl (2M) / cm3 Distilled Water / cm3 2.0 20 0 1.6 16 4 1.2 12 8 0.8 8 12 0.4 4 16 Safety Points As concentrated Hydrochloric acid will be used make sure eye and hand protection is worn. In case of contact, immediately flush skin with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes and with eye contact get medical attention immediately. Sulphur is also present so make sure the room is well ventilated to allow fumes to escape. Take care with glass wear, such as pipettes as they are fragile and may break easily. If broken clear up all glass immediately. Time Taken for Cross to Disappear / s Concentration of Na2S2O3 / moldm-3 1 2 Average Rate / moldm -3 s -1 logRate / log moldm -3 s -1 logconc. / log moldm-3 1.0 9.21 9.46 9.34 0.107 -0.971 0.000 0.8 13.71 14.00 13.86 0.072 -1.142 -0.097 0.6 17.43 17.21 17.32 0.058 -1.237 -0.222 0.4 23.66 22.71 23.19 0.043 -1.367 -0.398 0.2 49.78 50.12 49.95 0.020 -1.699 -0.699 Time Taken for Cross to Disappear / s Concentration of HCl / moldm-3 1 2 Average Rate / moldm -3 s -1 2 7.25 9.47 8.36 0.120 1.6 9.03 9.09 9.06 0.110 1.2 8.88 8.76 8.86 0.113 0.8 9.09 8.42 8.76 0.113 0.4 9.37 8.67 9.02 0.111 Analysis After drawing a graph of logRate against logConcentration and using the calculations in my plan, the gradient of the line gave me a value of 0.957 which taking into account experimental error shows the order of the reaction of Sodium Thiosulphate is 1. Also when carrying out the investigation for how the rate changes with the concentration of HCl there is no noticeable change in rate when the concentration varies. Therefore I didnt draw a graph, as the table shows HCl concentration doesnt affect the rate of the reaction and must be zero order. I can therefore deduce that the rate equation for this reaction is: Rate ? [Na2S2O3]1 and Rate ? [HCL]0 Rate = C x [Na2S2O3] where C is a constant which is proportional to the rate constant. The reason why the actual rate constant, k, can be calculated is because in the experiments the change in concentration cannot be calculated. However this always the same value as it is the concentration at which the cross disappeared and therefore the rate was proportional to 1/time. The intercept of the graph is equal to logC, -1.02, therefore C = 10-1.02 = 0.095s -1. To conclude the results show that the rate of the reaction between Sodium Thiosulphate and Hydrochloric Acid is directly proportional to the concentration of Sodium Thiosulphate. This gives evidence to the mechanism of the reaction. In a most reactions the mechanism is not made up of one step but a series of intermediate stages where molecules form and break down. Each of these steps will have a rate which is due to how many molecules are colliding. For example if 2 molecules must collide to for one product the reaction will be 2nd order. However the overall order for the reaction cannot be calculated using the stoichiometry in the overall equation. This is because the rate is determined by the rate of the slowest step of the mechanism, known as the rate determining step. In this reaction although 2HCl molecules are needed for the reaction to take place; however from the kinetics that I found HCl has no effect on the rate and is zero order. Therefore the slowest step in this reaction is the breakdown of 1 Sodium Thiosulphate molecules as the reaction is 1st order. Evaluation I feel the results I obtained allowed me to draw a graph and come to valid conclusions and be confident about calculating the order and rate equation for this reaction. I didnt have any obvious anomalies from my graph however there are some variations that meant I couldnt calculate a rate of exactly 1. Also from my table of results for changing the concentration of HCl, where all the rates must be the same for difference concentrations, there is a anomaly with the 2.0moldm-3 concentration. A limitation of my procedure was the way in which the rate was calculated using the disappearing cross method. This involves human judgement rather than a qualitative value that can be used to calculated the rate. There will also be an accuracy issue as there is a reaction time in realising the cross has disappeared and stopping the stopwatch. Another limitation of the procedure at the start of the timing and I had to add the chemicals together and start the stopwatch. This again causes an error in the actual time period taken for the cross to disappear. Another error is in the variation of temperature. As well as environmental variations in temperature the reaction was exothermic and heat is produced. When the temperature increases the k constant will increase, this is because the molecules have more kinetic energy and there is a higher probability that they will collide and react. This means its is hard to control this factor which is affecting the rate of the reaction. There are also many accuracy errors caused by percentage error in measuring. There is a time error in the time taken when the cross disappears and the delay in stopping the time. When using the graduated there was an error of 0.05/20 = 0.25% error, human reaction time is about 0.2/9.34 = 2.1%. To reduce this error I would choose another method of measuring the rate. Instead of using the cross method I would use a light intensity machine that could measure the change in colour over a period of time and stop and start timing when it had reach a certain value. This quantitative method of measuring should make the results more accurate. To control the temperature I could use a large water bath which could control the temperature throughout the reaction. Another method that could be used is to measure the products formed. The easiest would be using a gas syringe to measure the amount of SO2 formed. This again would give a more quantitative results and increase the accuracy and reliability .

Case study of bipolar disorder sufferer

Case study of bipolar disorder sufferer People with bipolar disorder have extreme mood swings (symptoms). They can go from feeling as if they are on top of the world, hyperactive, creative, and grandiose- mania to feeling very sad, despairing, helpless, worthless, and hopeless -depression. This disease is called bipolar disorder because the mood of a person with bipolar disorder can alternate between two completely opposite poles, euphoric happiness and extreme sadness. The extremes of mood usually occur in cycles, in between these mood swings, people with bipolar disorder are able to function normally, hold a job, and have a normal family life. The episodes of mood swings tend to become closer together with age. When a person is in the grip of this disease, chaos can occur. Bipolar disorder can cause major disruption of family and finances, loss of job, and marital problems. In Jims case he becomes completely dependant of his parents. Because of the extreme and risky behaviour that goes with bipolar disorder, it is very important that the disorder be identified. With proper and early diagnosis, this mental condition can be treated. Bipolar disorder is a long-term illness that will require proper management for the duration of a persons life. Jim is in his mid fifths and he still live with his parents, whose are in their late seventies. He is the only child and his parents overprotect him over the years owing to that he became completely de-skilled, dis-empowered and total dependant. He is not able to negotiate and he was not included in family discussions to show his opinion. The only way that he has to show that he is not happy is by screaming and crying. Jim definitely also suffers from Eternal child syndrome, also know as Peter Pan syndrome, and is to blame his parents who been treated him like a child all his life. Psychologists warn that overprotective parents can be responsible for this disorder as this prevents them from developing necessary skills to confront life. Jim chronologically grows older but in truth he has not grown up. Like Peter Pan he breaks societal norms to serve their own purposes and do not care much for the feelings and rights of his parents. He wants all the power but is not willing to share the responsibilities, not ready to sacrifice and reject moral structures which are part of mature adulthood. As the World Health Organization has not yet recognized Peter Pan Syndrome as a psychological disorder, the syndrome is not currently considered a psychopathology. Psychologists make a clear distinction between Peter Pan Syndrome and other, more serious, mental conditions involving adults who behave as children both emotionally and mentally. This is because it is often found that people suffering from Peter Pan Syndrome are mentally fully developed adults who often carry professional activities requiring strong intellectual skills. This syndrome is often associated with narcissism, although not in a negative way, self-centered sense. They are attracted to introspection in an attempt to find that imaginative comfort inside their own minds. On a positive sense this characteristic is seen as being in touch with the unbridled imaginational freedom of childhood. While succumbing to the prescribed order of things, most people forget all that they knew as an idealistic child, the eternal child is able to draw from their own raw, creative energy to remind us of how colorful life really is. Men suffering from the Peter Pan Syndrome display the following traits in their relationship with parents: Are obsessed with their mothers Have estranged relationship with the father They believe that it is not possible to obtain the fathers love and approval They have difficulty interacting with figures of authority Are not mature emotionally Exhibit silly behavior Hide their inner insecurity with macho attitude Males diagnosed with having this syndrome were found to exhibit the following psychological traits: Either exaggerated or paralyzed emotions Anger taking extreme form of rage Joy turning into hysteria Disappointment grows and develops into depression or self-pity As a result males diagnosed with this syndrome find it difficult to express love, refuse to share feelings, feel guilty and have difficulty relaxing. Men with Peter Pan Syndrome find it difficult to make genuine friends and as a result feel desperately alone. They dont feel sorry for inappropriate actions but blame others for their shortcoming. Males diagnosed with having this syndrome were found to exhibit the following psychological traits: Either exaggerated or paralyzed emotions Anger taking extreme form of rage Joy turning into hysteria Disappointment grows and develops into depression or self-pity As a result males diagnosed with this syndrome find it difficult to express love, refuse to share feelings, feel guilty and have difficulty relaxing and find difficult to make genuine friends and as a result feel desperately alone. This has a huge impact in Jims parents who are finding difficult to cope with all this matters, especially in during the winter. They are gradually worried about their ability to cope and what will happen with Jim when they die. They might feel a host of emotions: distress, vulnerability, anger, guilt and, surely they probably are exhausted. As an informal carer for several years, Jims parents revolved all their life on him, they devoted all their live to him. Like Jim who does not has friends (apart form his parents friends), some people that experienced the same condition as him generally have a very limited social network as well, and normally the people that they interact are mainly informal careers. 4 First of all Jims parents have take him to GP and if he is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, the GP will refer him to a psychiatrist (a medically qualified mental health specialist), psychotherapist and /or CPN. At his appointment he will be given an assessment. The psychiatrist will ask him a number of questions to determine whether or not he has bipolar disorder and, if he has, what treatments will be most suitable for you. He will be asked about his symptoms and when he first experienced them. The psychiatrist will also ask him, about how he, usually feel leading up to, and during, an episode of mania, or depression, and whether he has had thoughts about harming yourself or others. The psychiatrist will also want to find out about his medical background and his family history in order to determine whether any of your relatives has had bipolar disorder. If someone else in his family had the condition, the psychiatrist may wish to talk to them. After the assessment the psychiatrist will prescribe the right drugs and refer him to a psychotherapist. Psychotherapists work with individuals, couples, families and groups to help them overcome a range of psychological and emotional issues. With the client as an active participant, psychotherapists use personal treatment plans and a variety of non-medical-based treatments to: address the clients thought processes, feelings and behaviour; understand inner conflicts; find new ways to deal with, and alleviate, distress They take a variety of approaches according to the theoretical models they adopt and the therapy they practice. These talking therapies include: cognitive behavioural therapies; psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapies; humanistic and integrative psychotherapies; systemic therapies; hypno-psychotherapy; experiential constructivist therapies. Community Psychiatric nurses (CPNs) would be helpful to Jim as they can visit him in his new house and provide him support through the difficult periods of his illness, they also will see him when is well to check that everything is okay and be the first point of contact if he becomes unwell again. The CPN will help Jim with his medication and make sure that he understands what he should be taking and when. They also help patients family (in this case Jims parents) and careers understand and cope with the illness. Jim and his parents would benefit of Occupational therapists (OTs) as well. An occupational therapist can have many different roles. They will help Jim and his parents (when he moves out of his parents house) to adapt to the new environment and to cope with their daily life .OTs may work in hospitals or in the community. They supervise and assess a persons ability to look after themselves, e.g. self-care, cooking and housework, I would like point out that Jim does not know how to cook, clean or do his laundry. . OTs work with both individuals and groups. They can set goals for individuals with depression to encourage them to achieve more than they have been able to do while ill. They might get patients involved in specific job-related training schemes to improve their decision making and planning about the future. Group work is often aimed at increasing peoples social interactions. OTs may use many different types of therapy on an individual or group basis, including cognitive behavi oural therapy and art and music therapy. They may also be involved in providing relaxation training to patients referred to them by the mental health team or GPs. Social workers are employed by social services rather than the health service. However, most mental health social workers are based in multidisciplinary community mental health teams. Social workers may see patients referred to the team by GPs. They are likely to be involved if patients have social problems, such as housing, money and work. They may provide counselling and advice or more specific therapies. They may control access to some services such as day centres, respite care, residential care and other community support services, eg home helps. A social worker will also provide Jim a supported tenancy service which will help and teach him how to gain his independence and improve his quality of life.

Sports And Fascism In Italy History Essay

Sports And Fascism In Italy History Essay Like other totalitarian governments, the fascist regime had recognized the young as the future of the nation. The regime used sporting activities as a means to control the private life of its citizens and to spread fascist ideology. The sports policy during this era can be categorized into three phases. The first phase, which started from beginning of the regime in 1920s, considered sports a physical activity. During second phase, until about the end of 1930s, sport was used as a political propaganda. The third phase, in the late 1930s, sport activities were militarized. Emerging after the first World War, the first phase of sport use was to re-build the physical and political health and vitality of a population that had been badly weakened by battle wounds and rampant illnesses caused by exhaustion, overcrowding, and an unhygienic standard of living at the time. The second phase of sports in fascism evolved during the 1930s and is where Italy (and the rest of the world) saw the fruits of their labour on the international front by notable successes in world competitive sporting events. During the Los Angeles Olympics of 1932, for example, Italy won an astounding 12 Gold metals, coming second after the United States of America. They also won 2 World Cups (1930 and 1938), the Central European Cup for soccer, and the Tour de France in 1938 for cycling. Italian-American, Primo Carnera, prevailed as the world heavy weight title in boxing in the summer of 1933. During the same time, Minister of Aviation, Italo Balbo successfully flew the difficult North Atlantic crossing lading in Chicago. Balbo instantly became idolized for his heroic and patriotic charm and was recognized as the poster boy of Fascism only after Mussolini. Although Italy lost bids to host the Olympics themselves, they did leverage hosting other sporting opportunities to showcase t he beauty and sound urban structure of their city. They also built Foro Mussolini (Forum Mussolini) and an exhibition called Esposizione della pace (peace exhibition) which aims to commemorate the successes achieved by various Italian athletes. The objective for all these events were to not only to entertain and distract the general public, but also to psychologically combat their foes, while maintaining a unified and harmonious image on the surface. The final stage of the fascist integration with sports in Italy was the gradual transition from sports skills to military skills. The notion of uniforms, strict rules, obedience to hierarchy, and teamwork took a much more strategic presence in the physical education curriculum during the late 1930s. Since other totalitarian states were also making this transition, military games were introduced into the 1939 World University Championships held in Vienna. This studys aim is to analyze the connection between Fascism and sports in Italy between the first and second World War. I will look at the key players and various organizations that planned the strategic education and militarization of a new generation, and the impact this has played in the formation of beliefs and attitudes of Italians especially during their early childhood years. The Fascist regimes goal from the beginning when it came into power was to control the countrys youth according to the fascist ideologies. Children were easy targets because they are malleable and childhood was an easy and natural time to develop, absorb and assimilate. The fascist regime used a previously neglected subject, physical education, in schools to entrust physical and political education of Italians. Giovanni Gentile, a newly elected minster at the time, pioneered the necessary changes in the education system by radically reforming the structure and scope of the school system in 1923. In order to promote physical education and a fascist ideology, minister Giovanni Gentile handed over the physical education of the youth to an organization called the ENEF (Ente Nazionale per lEducazione Fisica-National Physical Education Board). ENEF was not successful in fulfilling the task in hand due to lack of sports equipment, exercise facilities, funding and instructors, so by 1927, ONB (Opera Nazionale Balilla-National Balilla Movement) took over this task. ONB was committed and dedicated to getting the new generation of the Italian youth in shape. ONB enrolled young male youth ranging age from six to eighteen, however, unfortunately, ten years later in 1937, there was another change in management, and GIL (Giovent Italiana del Littorio-Fascist Youth) took over this task. The young Italian males older than eighteen were involved in the GUF organization (Gruppi Universitari Fascisti-Fascist University Groups) and the ones waiting for military service joined the FGC (Fasci Giovanili di Combattimenti-Fascist Youth Combat Groups) or MVSN ((Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale-Voluntary Militia for National Security). Also, sports fans enrolled in any association, had to join the CONI (Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano-Italian Olympic Committee), which had been at the service of the PNF (Partito Nazionale Fascista-National Fascist Party) since 1926. OND (Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro-National After-Work Institute) controlled the working class and starting from birth, children were looked after by ONMI (Opera Nazionale Maternit e Infanzia-National Maternity and Child Welfare Institute), and the supreme, all powerful ruler was the Duce or more formally known as Benito Mussolini. Clearly both Mussolini and Gentile were incredibly strategic with the organizational flow of the penetration of politics into the Italian population. Every single phase of ones life cycle, starting from birth, to pre-school, to University, and worklife, were carefully categorized and allocated a specific political organization in which to dictate and teach the fascist political ideology. To improve the Italian race, from the early years of the regime, the goal was to improve the nations physical health. In a speech Ascension Day delivered on May 26 1927, Mussolini stated that in the past the state was not concerned with the nations health which leads the nation to suicide. Mussolini stated that in a well-ordered state,peoples health must be a priority, and that they must watch over the destiny of the Italian race with great seriousness. The programs put in place by the regime included to reduce premature death and illness, support for maternity and childhood, and the physical education of the youth. These measures over time showed a decrease in mortality rate and an increase in population, whom were stronger mentally and physically (7). The regimes goal to strengthen the race concerned both men and women. Men were required to develop physically and morally by being healthy and physically active which would make them into good comrades ready to sacrifice themselves for the Fascist creed. Women, on the other hand, needed to be healthy so that they could give birth to healthy children and moral strength to breed true Fascists of the future. Besides being good mothers, women actively participated in the 1936 Olympics and unexpectedly even won a gold medal. Trebisonda Valla was victorious in the 80-metre hurdle race. This was a huge accomplishment given that women werent even trained for the prior Olympics of 1932. From the 1920s onwards, military training was organized, and the aim of the regime was to form an armed nation (17) whose citizens and soldiers were one. The State paid meticulous attention to pre-military training of its youth. From 1919 to 1922, all youth groups were active and were controlled by the fascist party (18). In 1926, the ONB was established and its goal was to include their members within the states legal system. The aim of the ONB was the physical and moral assistance and education of the young. 19 An objective expressed forcefully in the words of the Duce himself: Our duty has to be education and teaching. These children must be educated in our religious beliefs but we need to integrate this education, we need to give these children a sense of virility, of power, of conquest, above all we need to inspire them with our beliefs and awake in them our hopes. 20 The ONBs educational activities were grouped into three categories (25): activities that were to be integrated into the school curriculum or into cultural training; military preparation; sports and gymnastics.'(26) These were considered a fascist moral education and built future model citizens with pure fascist spirits, ideologically pure fathers and mothers, soldiers and child-bearers of the future Italian Race. The ONB was directly under the control of Mussolini and was headed by Renato Ricci. The foundation of ONB aimed to assist both male and female children, but in 1929, it only admitted girls. The children aged 6 to 18 were divided into Balilla and Piccole Italiane aged 6 to 13 and Avanguardisti and Giovani Italiane (14 to 18 years old). The division of children in groups were based on military grouping. The first group was the squad, made up of 11 young people and a squad-leader; three squads formed a manipolo or platoon, and three of these formed a centuria (i.e. a body of 100). Three centurie became a cohort, and finally a legion was formed from three cohorts. The various divisions were organized by the officers of the MVSN (Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale-Voluntary Militia for National Security). 29 To protect the monopoly of ONB, a decree was issued in 1927 which forbade any other organization that claimed to promote the physical, mortal or spiritual education or professional training of the young (30). This decree caused suspension and termination of all Catholic, Socialist and Communist sporting organization. Even CONI which was under fascist party control could not promote sports activities for children under the age of 18. ONB used schools as a source of recruitment. Eventually all activities that were once undertaken by ENEF were transferred to ONB with the full approval of Fascist government. The fascist were criticized that the education minister had neglected the aspect of physical education which develops personal courage and military skills. Mussolini adopted the slogan, books and muskets, perfect Fascist which meant that education of the young should include military training, believing that this form of education teaches the youth to live dangerously. Young people were trained to become future soldiers. The exercises adapted to the childrens age and situation instilling in them fascist ideology and by getting the children used to living outside the family and following a militarized life style (37). Eventually, tens of thousands of youth were participating in set marches and other organized sports competitions. These events, especially the marches, served as a testament of the success of the values, skills and dedication the regime sought to achieve. Fascism had begun to crumble in 1938, when Mussolini supported the Anschluss of Austria, and further still when he declared war on Britain and France, and the eventual start of the Second World War Mussolini succeeded on creating a new nation that was truly Fascist. He used sports, of all things, to successfully promote a Fascist ideology on the culture and upbringing of an entire generation. Blah blah blah blah blah ADD 2-3 Lines to finish the essay off.

A Discussion of Martin Luther King Jr.s Letter From Birmingham City Ja

A Discussion of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham City Jail Martin Luther King Jr. discusses the advantages and purposes for his theory of nonviolent direct action in his Letter From Birmingham City Jail. He shows four basic steps that must be taken to achieve nonviolent action. They include 1) collection of facts to determine whether injustices are alive; 2) negotiation; 3) self-purification; and 4) direct action. Each of these steps will be explained as part of King's argument later in this essay. The main purpose of a nonviolent campaign is to force any community to confront a problem rather than refuse to negotiate or face a specific issue. In the letter, King discusses his group's reasons for coming to Birmingham. He states that Birmingham is "probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States" and that much violence has taken place against Negroes there. He goes on to discuss how his attempts to negotiate with white merchants to remove racially offensive signs from store windows had failed. This caused King and many other s to become discontent. There was also resentment towards white people because Negroes made up an overwhelmingly sizable part of the poor. Violence had evoked a fear in all Negroes, and resentment built up against the whites. King discusses how leaders have asked him to wait to take action, but he rejects this request by saying it is "difficult to wait". He simply refuses to sit back and watch his people being hurt and oppressed time after time. He claims that the white moderate is the group that is more devoted to discriminate blacks because they care more about order than justice. These moderates are complacent and would rather see no tension instead of the presence of jus... ...nk that if King were alive today to witness the recent events at the World Trade Center, he would again preach nonviolence for the American people. He would be saddened to see our government retaliate with violence. I don't think the United States would be able to follow his four steps of nonviolence. We have achieved the first two steps of recognizing the direct injustice against us, and we have attempted to negotiate with the leaders of the Taliban. I think our country would not be able to reach the step of self-purification. As the ultimate power in the world, the U.S. would not be able to simply accept blows against our government, freedom and liberty. I think it would be hard to solve this terrorism today with nonviolence tactics only. I think this because it is an international, political, and economical issue rather than a social injustice against a minority.

The Use of Satire in Gullivers Travels Essay -- Literary Analysis

Satire is a literary work that uses humor, hyperbole, and derision to ridicule the human behaviors and customs. Rather than being judgmental, many writers utilize satire to convey their innovative ideas to change certain aspects of society. From the many writers that used satire to condemn the actions of society, Jonathan Swift's, Gulliver's travels, stands as one of the best satirical work in human history. Published in 1726, Gulliver's travels is an adventure of Lemuel Gulliver whose voyage turns into a series of disasters to various strange islands where he lives with humans and animals of various sizes, behaviors, and philosophies. Through the usage of extended metaphor and symbolism, Swift brings to light numerous religious and political follies of 18th century English society through the characterizations of the Lilliputians. Lemuel Gulliver is the third son of his father. He was born in the peaceful county of Nottinghamshire, where he attended post-secondary school at Emanuel College. He became an English surgeon after attending medical school at the prestigious University of Leiden. Even though, Gulliver is a smart man, he is without a doubt gullible. He has a simplistic unbiased view of the world. He believes everyone is just as honest and modest as he is while in reality the world is full of corrupted individuals. After University, Gulliver sets out to be a voyager. In his most significant voyage, he travels as a surgeon on the merchant ship, Antelope. While in sea, a catastrophic storm devastates the ship causing the crewmembers to die. Subsequently, Gulliver washes up on the shores of Lilliput as the only survivor from the Antelope. After waking up from his tribulation, he finds that he is captured and tied down... ...he egg breaking ceremony to emphasize the absurdity of any religious war."(Downie) Throughout the book, Swift's usage of satire brings to light how in the 18th and 19th century the English society was morally, socially, and politically corrupted. Swift makes it clear that every normal person wants to be concerned with honor, gratitude, common sense, and kindness, but on the contrary human intentions are always strayed into a wrong path. Works Cited Swift, Jonathan, and Alfred Bradly Gough. Gulliver's Travels;. Oxford [Eng.: Clarendon, 1915. Print. Soens, Lewis A. Gulliver's Satire. Google Books. Web. 02 Apr. 2012. . Ewald, Wiliam Bragg. The masks of Jonathan Swift. Oxford, Great Britain: Basil Blackwell, 1954. Downie, J.A Jonathan Swift: Political writer. London Routledge and kegan Paul, 1984

“Grandfather” and Gandalf

The well-known adventure novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien and the historical fiction novel Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson both exemplify the use of the â€Å"wise old man† archetype through the characters Gandalf and â€Å"Grandfather. † Although the former is a powerful sorcerer and the latter is a vulnerable slave, both act as sagacious advisors for the stories’ main protagonists—Bilbo and Isabel. At one point in the Chains text, when Isabel (a slave girl) goes to the town’s pump to get her water, Grandfather says to Isabel, â€Å"A scar is a sign of strength†¦ Look hard for your river Jordan, my child. You’ll find it. † Grandfather shows his wisdom by encouraging Isabel to search for her own freedom beyond the River Jordan, which, in this case, symbolizes the final obstacle she must face before reaching liberty. In the first part of the quote, Grandfather implies that Isabel will encounter a huge obstacle that might hinder her way to freedom, but he says that she must use her perseverance in order to endure it. Similarly, in The Hobbit, Gandalf frequently gives advice to, and encourages, the easily depressed Bilbo in order to persist even though he (Bilbo) may run into dangers along the journey. While both Gandalf and Grandfather are wise, they differ in many ways, including the aspect that Gandalf possesses powerful abilities that make him as near as invincible. When Gandalf uses undefeatable powers to rescue Bilbo and the dwarves from a goblin stronghold, the narrator of the story describes, â€Å"Just at that moment all the lights in the cavern went out, and the great fire went off poof! nto a tower of blue glowing smoke, right up to the roof, that scattered piercing white sparks all among the goblins. † In fact, Gandalf proves to be so powerful that he even has the capacity to electrocute hundreds of goblins in a matter of seconds. On the other hand, Grandfather, a helpless slave, does not possess any of the apparent physical capabilities that Gandalf possesses; Grandfatherâ€⠄¢s only conspicuous characteristic seems to be his judiciousness, a quality formerly referenced as a similarity between Grandfather and Gandalf. Although the two characters, Gandalf and Grandfather, come from completely different backgrounds—one has a significant physical advantage over the other—both still share the same intellectual qualities as wise men who dedicate to the success of their fellow colleagues and eventually help them achieve their goals. To apply this comparison to a global truth, a person may be born with more abilities or a better status than another, but there is ultimately nothing that prevents the person from having as equally successful results as the other.

Baring Bank Case Essay

The Fall of sanngs sank The story of Barings Bank shows how overconfidence, coupled with poor internal control, can even bring down an historic financial institution. Below we provide a few teaching points. Nick Leeson seemed to have all the characteristics of an overconfident trader. As described in the chapter, excessive trading, lack of diversification, and too much risk were obviously present. Self-attribution bias seemed to play a major role. One commentator notes that Leeson â€Å"got overconfident after initial trades were successful and] when he started to lose money, got way too aggressive trying to make it up. When Leeson was asked about his actions, he explained that â€Å"l was determined to win back the losses [†¦ ] I was well down, but increasingly sure that my doubling up and doubling up would pay off†¦ â€Å", thereby overestimating his abilities by thinking he could outperform the market even after severe losses. A case study into the affair concluded th at it was overconfidence that led Nick Leeson to bet his reputation. But, as Saul Hansell of The New York Times stated, â€Å"It isn’t Just rogue traders loose annons stretching internal rules on trading desks who have destroyed their investors’ wealth. Money managers who play by the rules can get caught up short, too, when they fall to overconfidence about their mastery of the markets. † He further wrote that, â€Å"It is no secret that traders, as a class, are a young, independent and cocky bunch. The sheer size of the money they are Juggling can lead toa master-of-the- universe attitude. The Fall of Barings sank Barings Bank was founded in 1762 as the â€Å"John and Francis Baring Company’ by Sir Francis Baring. This bank was the oldest merchant bank in London, financed the Napoleonic Wars, and was the Queen of England’s own bank. In 1996, one man, Nick Leeson, managed to bring down Barings Bank, one of the oldest and most conservative financial institutions in the world, through his illicit trading activity. In 1989, Leeson Joined Barings Bank. After being transferred to Jakarta, Indonesia to sort through a back-office mess involving EIOO million of share certificates, Leeson solidified his reputation within Barings when he successfully rectified the situation in 0 months. Lesson also knew how to account for derivatives, even if he did not fully understand the complexities of their pricing. Therefore, in 1992, when Barings opened a new office in Singapore to trade on the expanding Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SIMEX), Leeson became an obvious candidate to manage it. Senior management at Barings Bank assumed that Leeson would turn the Singapore office into a highly profitable endeavor and therefore gave him extensive responsibility. As eliminated the necessary checks and balances usually found within trading rganizations. Soon he was Barings Banks star Singapore trader, bringing in substantial profits from trading on the Singapore exchange. By 1993, Leeson had made more than Elo million, about 10% of Barings’s total profit for that year. In 1994, he delivered over half of the E52. 9 million in revenue for his division on his own, making many proclaim him as the â€Å"miracle worker. † In his autobiography Rogue Trader, Leeson said the culture at Barings was simple: â€Å"We were all driven to make profits, profits, and more profits I was the rising star. Aided by his lack of upervision, the 28-year-old Nick Lesson promptly started unauthorized speculation in futures on the Nikkei 225 stock index and Japanese government bonds. SIMEX regulators were aware of Leeson’s cross-trading activities, and his breach of their exchange regulations, but did not act decisively to stop him. Leeson’s large trading volumes were quickly becoming important for the exchange, and being a lightl y regulated market was central to SIMEX’s strategy to woo trade from neighboring Osaka. Using futures contracts, Leeson speculated that the Nikkei would rise.

Economics 247 Assignment 2 Version A Essay

Economics 247 Assignment 2 Version A This assignment has a maximum total of 100 marks and is worth 10% of your total grade for this course. You should complete it after completing your course work for Units 6 through 10. Answer each question clearly and concisely. 1. In perfect competition, one result of the model was that there were no economic profits in the long run. In a monopoly, the firm typically earns a positive economic profit. Why is there this difference? The lack of barriers to entry will allow competitors to enter the market unil economic profit is zero. These firms are price takers, and they cannot affect prices because their demand curve is horizontal.(4 marks) 2. Assume that a single firm in a pure competitive industry has a fixed cost of $6500 and variable costs as indicated in the table below. a. Calculate the TC, AFC, AVC, ATC, and MC columns for this firm. (5 marks) Total Output TVC TC AFC AVC ATC MC 00 0 600 70,000 1000 76000 1400 81000 1800 87000 2200 90000 2600 93000 2800 96000 3000 100000 3100 110000 b. Explain the concepts of economies and diseconomies of scale, and describe the underlying reasons why both occur. (4 marks) 3. At its current level of production, a profit-maximizing firm in a competitive market receives $12.50 for each unit it produces, and it faces an average total cost of $10. At the market price of $12.50 per unit, the firm’s marginal cost curve crosses the marginal revenue curve at an output level of 1000 units. What is the firm’s current profit? What is likely to occur in this market and why?(4 marks) P=12.5 TR=P*Q = 12.5 * 1’000 = 12’500 TC=ATC*Q = 10 * 1’000 = 10’000 Profit=TR-TC = 12’500 – 10’000 = +2’500 Profit is positive, but for perfectly competitive markets there will be no profits at all in the long-run, so in this markets new firms will enter  market attracted by profits thus increasing market supply and reducing equilibrium price till it reaches close to P=$10, consequently leading to zero economic profits in long-run. For lower price this firm will be pressed to reduce output a bit for new P=MR=MC equilibrium. 4. a.Why would a firm in a perfectly competitive market always choose to set its price equal to the current market price? If a firm set its price below the current market price, what effect would this have on the market? (4 marks) The assumptions of perfect competition that matter here are that in perfect competition 1 every firm is so small compared to the market so as to have no effect on market price 2 everyone is aware of everybody’s price. Now if you set a price lower than the market, you are only cutting your nose to spite your face since you would sell as much as a higher price. (Remember, how much you produce is determined by your MC and the output level you produce at is the minimum MC). Cutting the price to sell more also costs more to produce; you are worse off. If you set a price higher than market, noone will buy from you. Explain how a firm in a competitive market identifies the profit-maximizing level of production. When should the firm raise production, and when should the firm lower production? In a perfectly competitive market, all firms are assumed to be very small compared to the market. Now the price is set at the market level, and as a small firm you take it as given; you couldn’t sell at a higher price since nobody would buy from you. Now in the long run, you should be at the minimum point of your cost curve, ensuring you make just normal profits. The price is your MR and at the minimum point of your AC curve your MC cuts it: MC=MR and AC=AR. If the market price is higher than this, new entrants will sniff the opportunity created by super normal profits and the market supply curve shifts right/up, reducing price until there are no more super ormal profits  to be earned. If market price is lower, then firms are making losses, some exit and supply curve shifts left driving price up. In equilibrium, each firm is producing at the minmum point of the AC, where MC=MR=P. Hence the firm temporarily raises production when P>min AC and makes supernormal profits until new entrants drive price back down; or lowers production temporarily when P

“Death Stars” by Paz Marquez Essay

The short story centers on the character of Alfredo Salazar who is the main protagonist of this tale. The protagonist of the story is very vulnerable in realms of love. This is a short story that revolves around the love affair of Alfredo, Julia and Esperanza. Alfredo who is the son of the old man Don Julian, a more than 30 year man and a bachelor, he is in a 4 year long engagement with his fiancà ©e Esperanza but his feelings has been shipped to Julia Salas when he thinks he was instantly fell in love with her when he first met her who is a relative of the judge and started to have deep conversation with her. He experiences an immediate attraction to her, but alas, he is soon to be married with his fiancà ©e. He conservatively flirts with Julia through secret meetings and subtle declarations, but in the end, he lets her go, with her gaining the late knowledge of his impending marriage. He was trap in his own complication in choosing what he wants to do and what he wants to have. B ut society strict rules required him to restrain such unwelcome emotions and so he proceeded to marry Esperanza. But in the very end, he found himself merely infatuated with Julia after he deliberately made a decision by choosing Esperanza. But it is really ashamed that it has taken him far too long, too many years wasted, to realize his feelings for the other woman was just like a death star, a star that sparkles and light radiate from it which he seeks love Julia but only to found out that light of the star no longer exist in the world. If he realize this earlier on by his own error but clouded by lusting for love blinded him to do so, he can be truly happy all those years with Esperanza in their marriage long ago instead of just being not unhappy in his marriage and instead of Esperanza behavior being an out of reach for him which I think that Esperanza know who is the woman that he tries to go after which is tragic that I do feel sorry for her in her situation, obviously taking her for granted in my opinion and her behavior is understandable after what this man have done even though there i s no physical cheating involve but still classifies him in the level of cheating where his emotional detachment to her and a sudden attachment to Julia unfaithfulness which is cheating. Alfredo himself wants what he really wanted and what he really felt. He wanted to live. He wanted to find love. He is clung to that dream of his  through Julia which in reality in the end of the story does not really exist in the first place. He long yearns for his long lost love for Julia is what he been thinking all these years when he visited her at her hometown on his business trip who is still unmarried to which is only to come realize the woman he felt in love with is only a mere fragment of his imagination that wasn’t there in the beginning. Dead stars are celestial bodies in the solar system that have long been extinguished, but can still be seen. What he felt for Julia was long gone that it never exist in the first place just like a pattern of his imagination gone wild. So all these years he had been seeing the light of dead stars, long extinguished, yet seemingly still in their appointed. In the story, dead stars symbolize a dream for something that is nonexistent, a thing that is only a distant memory even though the person he vastly desired love from before which the person is right next to him standing suddenly feel like it never occur at all but only the mere illusions of the fabric of the dark shadows of reality. I feel sympathy for Alfredo in the story, he was describe physically an ordinary man who probably makes a living as a lawyer or something, engage with his fiancà ©s for years who is very patience in waiting because that this time era, woman have to wait on the man.

Business Model Re-Engineering: Myspace

————————————————- Business Model Re-engineering MySpace Date: November 4, 2011 ————————————————- Word Count: 3742 Introduction Nowadays, increasingly more industries, especially the media sector, are facing a continuous change. In the case of media, this is mainly a result of steadily developing digital technology. Even though a company’s business model might have been successful for many years, it suddenly can start to become weaker. The media market is quite competition-driven and hence a competitor with a new business model might alter the industry almost instantly (Business model re-engineering, n. d. ). In such a competitive market, the â€Å"strategy [†¦] is about being different. † (Eisenhardt & Sull, 2001, p. 116). This statement perfectly implies that companies and their products need to be so unique with such a well thought-out and innovate business model that they can create a competitive advantage. However, this adaption of the business model in an ever-changing media environment turns out to be quite a complex challenge, since now many companies face a decline of customers and revenue. A good example for a business model that could not survive the changing media environment in terms of online social networking is the one of Myspace. Consequently, I am going to propose a re-engineering of its business model. In this paper, I will focus on the problems of the current business model and carefully analyze the context of the market in order to propose a refreshed model that will help Myspace to survive and to compete more successfully in nowadays’ social networking market. Myspace needs a business model that provides value to its customers, guarantees a competitive advantage, as well as collects revenue (Teece, 2010). Myspace Myspace. com, which was founded in 2003 by Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson (Piskorski, Chen, & Knoop, 2008), is an online social networking ervice that is now owned by Specific Media LLC and singer Justin Timberlake (Specific Media Acquires Myspace, 2011). Specific Media LLC is a media company which sells advertising online with a technology that aims at targeting specific customer segments (Specific Media LLC, 2011). Specific Media LLC, however, has not been the owner of Myspace for long. In June 2011, the company bought Myspace for about $35 million and as part of the deal pop star Justin Timberlake took an ownership stake (Specific Media Acquires Myspace, 2011). Before, from 2005 until 2011, it was owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation (News Corporation to Acquire Intermix Media, Inc, 2005). From 2005 until 2008, Myspace was the most popular social networking website in the world, as measured by the visitors. But the number of 75. 9 million visitors per month in 2008 dropped to 34. 8 million in May 2011 (Gillette, 2011). Problems Is Facebook Myspace’s biggest problem? Since 2008, Myspace has been continuously losing members which was at the time when it was overtaken by Facebook (Mack, 2008). Myspace has been gradually losing its users which can be expressed by the declining members and visitors of the website. As from February 2010, the visitors decreased by 43. 3 per cent (Arrington, 2011) and the members shrunk by ten million within one month at the beginning of 2011 (Stafford, 2011). This decline brings along a dramatic loss in revenues which are solely generated by advertising (Enders, Hungenberg, Denker, & Mauch, 2008). Facebook has now about 25 times more users than Myspace (Stafford, 2011) and it seems that members migrated from Myspace to Facebook, but there is other reasons for the failure of Myspace, mainly in terms of innovation. Myspace was performing really well at the time of News Corp’s acquisition and it barely had any competitors. However, with the rise of its first great competitor Facebook, the former leading social networking site had to confront one of its severest lacks: innovation! At the very beginning, Facebook entered a niche market, namely the one of college students. Firstly, it was available to Haravard students, then more and more universities wanted to join Facebook and today, almost everybody is using this social network, no matter if college student or not (Piskorski et al. , 2008). Today, around 600 million users enjoy keeping in touch with people all over the world via Facebook (Cauwels & Sornette, 2011). Facebook managed this great success because it was innovative. New features have been added all the time since it has been launched, hence people were involved and kept coming back as a result of new innovations such as the ‘news feed’ at that time (Stafford, 2011). While Facebook managed to be innovative all the time, Myspace failed to adapt to the market and did not add new features as Facebook did. Additionally, Myspace did not allow third party developers to create new features such as applications (e. g. Facebook – FarmVille etc. ), they rather kept everything behind closed doors. Therefore, Myspace lost the competition of controlling the market at the time between 2006 and 2008 and consequently it became boring (Stafford, 2011). Even though Myspace had certain features, they did not all work very well. For example, members were able to create their own backgrounds either themselves or they could download an existing design from many providers who specialized in creating Myspace profile designs. This feature turned into quite a mess, problems, and confusion regarding certain profiles. The whole competition resulted in a confusing mess and one could not be sure on what Myspace was focusing. Not only because of the customized user profiles but also because of some other flaws in the site’s design, Myspace was confronted with security issues. Results were spyware (Hesseldahl, 2006), phishing, and spam (Webb, Caverlee, & Pu, 2010). Another security fear was regarding the profile content. Users were concerned about trust and privacy and even law enforcement officials claimed, â€Å"MySpace is used by sexual predators to lure teenagers† (Dwyer, Hiltz, & Passerini as cited by Schrobsdorff, 2006, p. 5). The last problem I want to focus on is the revenue model. As previously mentioned, Myspace operates on revenues from advertising. Especially under the ownership of News Corp, the main focus was on generating revenue. It seemed that Rupert Murdoch solely focused on revenues and nothing else which is a great flaw for a social networking site, as it needs to focus on the onsumers. In 2006, Google pledged to pay News Corp as many as $900 million over three and a half years and in return Google was allowed to provide search services and advertising on Myspace (Piskorski et al. , 2008). For Myspace’s customer it seemed that the site was full of too much unorganized advertising, hence the website appeared unp rofessionally (James, 2009). The previously listed problems of Myspace are mainly problems of the time when Myspace lost the competition against Facebook, and reasons why Myspace is not successful anymore. With regards to the Business Model Canvas by Alexander Osterwalder (2009), I will focus on the problems based on the following elements: Value Propositions, Key Partners, Revenue Streams, and Media Channels. The element of value propositions â€Å"seeks to solve customer problems and satisfy customer needs with value propositions† (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2009, p. 16). I consider this part to be Myspace’s greatest problem regarding the issues of trust, privacy, spam, spyware, and phishing. Furthermore, the lack of innovation was one of the major problems why Myspace lost that many users who constantly want to experience something new. With its lack of good and new features as well as its unclear point of focus, Myspace was not able to deliver value which would result in customers continue to use the social network. From my personal experience, I can say that Myspace faded into obscurity which can be backed up by the low number of users now, compared to the time of 2006 when Myspace was at its peak (Snyder, Carpenter, & Slauson, 2006). I was a Myspace user around 2006 as well, when I was 15 years old. It seemed to be a meeting point for teenagers and for me it was not any different from the German social networking site ‘Schuler VZ’ except that it is international. However, as time went by, I decreasingly used Myspace as for me it always was too confusing and it could not compete with the German social network. Besides, I got spammed with advertising, random men (who were not at my age) thought it was a dating service, and it simply became boring. Therefore, I can state that Myspace’s biggest problem is that it is not valuable enough for the users. Theory Firstly, I will focus on the value propositions as all the other elements, I chose to focus on, follow up on the value propositions. When looking at value propositions, I would like to consider the three types of value propositions according to Anderson, Narus, and van Rossum (2006), namely ‘all benefits’, ‘favorable points of difference’, and ‘resonating focus’. In the case of Myspace, it certainly would not be enough to â€Å"simply list all the benefits† (Anderson et al. , 2006, p. 2) since there are too many competitors in the Internet environment that share most of the benefits and values. The ‘favorable points of difference’ approach is promising in so far that it distinguishes the valuable points that the competitors do not offer. However, I believe that Myspace does not present many highly valuable aspects over their competitors and therefore it would be most convenient to concentrate on the ‘resonating focus’. With this approach, I will focus on â€Å"the one or two points of difference [†¦] whose improvement will deliver the greatest value to the customer for the foreseeable future† (Anderson et al. , 2006, p. 4). In connection to that, I will of course need to study the greatest competitors with regards to their value propositions in order to highlight Myspace’s most valuable points of difference. Furthermore, I will need to research what customers expect from online social networking, what they value about Myspace, and what they generally find lacking in the social networking environment in order to develop ideas for a possible niche market. Additionally, for this customer value research, I will need to conduct research on focus groups with regards to problems mentioned in the previous section (safety and innovation). Furthermore, the design is an important aspect of the value propositions as well. As I previously stated, the old Myspace design was quite confusing which resulted in safety problems. Hence, a new design is needed which is unified for every user, yet attractive and which does not allow bugs. Secondly, in relation to innovation, I will need to look at the Key Partners who will be part of the re-engineering of the Media Channels as well and concerning revenues. Through Media Channels, the company can communicate with its customers and deliver the value propositions (Osterwalder et al. 2009). Especially in the online environment, awareness can be raised with the help of other key partners. For example, you can share content from one website on another. Not so long ago, Myspace introduced connection opportunities to Twitter and Facebook (Myspace introduces mashup with Facebook, 2010) and also youtube allows sharing videos on myspace. Myspace’s connections to Facebook which will al so help to generate user-specific streams according to the user’s Facebook profiles. However, Facebook for example, does not allow a connection to Myspace. Accordingly, Key Partners are needed that would help promoting Myspace. Moreover, the former revenue model which only consisted of advertising, has proven to be quite annoying for the users, hence Myspace needs Key Partners who will not only make the website more appealing but also help to make revenue. Hence, research has to be done on Key Partners who are willing to help financing Myspace as well as who would be interested to offer for example applications (which then help the Key Partners as well). As I said before, Myspace faded into obscurity. For this reason, I will also need to look at other media channels such as campaigns and marketing strategies in order to bring Mypsace back to people’s minds. In that relation, research needs to be done on what marketing strategies worked for successful social networks such as Facebook and also what media channels can help to basically re-introduce a media product like Myspace. Assumptions & Best Practices Review First of all I need to mention that Myspace decided in 2010 to focus on music and entertainment (About Myspace, 2010). However, for now I will only consider online social networking sites as websites that focus on music and entertainment are not Myspace’s greatest competitors. Of course, I will need to take Facebook into account as Myspace’s greatest competitor and as today’s most popular social network which was the most visited website in June 2011 (Smith, 2011). Facebook first started in a niche market of college students and it got awareness from the very beginning. It did not use any special advertising campaigns to become popular but the promotion was rather by word to mouth (Mitchell, 2009). The popularity has then been covered by newspaper articles and television which reported on the success (Ibid). Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook as a unique and intimate website and constantly added new features that kept the site interesting. Facebook is far more innovative than Myspace and therefore the members keep using it and promote it by word-of-mouth advertising. Similarly to Facebook, Twitter was initially successful in a niche market. At the beginning, primarily computer- and technology specialists as well as bloggers used Twitter for example to promote their blogs (How did Twitter become popular? 2009). Twitter could convince with its simplicity and real life experience. Real life experience in so far that people twittered news from certain events such as the Mumbai attacks or recently the uprisings in Tunisia as different to regular news channels (Ibid). The best practices that made Twitter and Facebook successful and popular are therefore word-to-mouth advertising and t he Internet itself. Word-to-mouth advertising only worked because of the convincing and interesting designs and usability. Both platforms are innovative, as they have been creating new features that make them enjoyable, flexible and interesting (The Success of Twitter, 2011). Those best practices worked for Myspace as well – in the beginning. However, the task now is to remake Myspace aware to people’s minds and the goal is that the users actually keep using Myspace because of the new design and value propositions. I would suggest sending a short and catchy email to the Myspace users which shortly introduces them to the new Myspace. Users might want to get to know the new Myspace and then tell people about their good experience. Additionally, since Myspace is focusing on music, an advertising campaign might help to make new bands aware of Myspace’s ability to promote their work. Facebook uses an aggressive innovation approach, meaning that it comes up with new features that users initially might not like but after a while they cannot imagine Facebook without those new features anymore. Furthermore, Facebook constantly adapts the privacy settings in order to meet the customers’ needs with regards to safety (Blodget, 2010). Innovation keeps Facebook interesting and worthwhile to continue using it. Another highlight it offers for their users are applications. Many software developers create applications for Facebook which make the site not only more interesting and entertaining but also help to generate revenues (Stone, 2007). With the help of key partners, Myspace can get help for its design as well as applications that help to make the site interesting. What is more, key partners help financing; hence Myspace would not only be dependent on advertising revenues. As users find the amount of advertising quite annoying, Myspace can focus on less but personalized advertising. Those steps would help to make Myspace more innovative and it can easier meet the users’ needs in terms of design, safety, new features that make it worth to use. Research Proposal – Method Myspace needs change! More specifically, Myspace needs a re-engineered business model. The previous statistics show that the numbers of Myspace users decline gradually. If this decline continues, the once most popular social network (Bains, 2009) will soon be almost unknown or at least unused. However, with further research on my previously stated ideas based on the problems of Myspace in relation to the Business Model, I will be able to help Myspace creating a new and innovative Business Model that will help to avoid further declining user numbers and to create competitive consistency in the environment of social networking. In order to study the value propositions carefully, I will conduct qualitative research. Only with qualitative research I will be able to gather in-depth understanding of the reasons why people do not use Myspace anymore. I can gather such information in two ways: through interviews and through an online research community. With the help of a qualitative research interview I will gather the facts as well as analyze the meaning (Kvale, 1996). As a result, I will be able to understand the values customers need as well as the reasons and problems which caused the failure of Myspace. By using an online research community, Myspace can put â€Å"the customer at the heart of [the] marketing strategy† (Simon, 2009). Such research communities allow efficient and deep qualitative research online. In such a community, members can discuss certain aspects such as new features and designs, and Myspace can adapt accordingly. Besides, a qualitative research online will probably bring more results since people rather take the time to discuss issues online. However, the qualitative Interview will also be needed because it is an additional in-depth analysis with face-to-face communication that enables immediate follow up questions and answers with high reliability. The qualitative research of both forms will be base on current or former Myspace users and also on general social network users in order to determine the general arget group’s values. Questions for both kinds of researches will for example include what they currently like about Myspace, what they do not like, why they use Myspace, or why they (stopped) using Myspace, what they generally value about Myspace, and their opinions about the competitors such as Facebook. For good measure a detailed research on the competit ors and their best practices is essential. This can be done by further online research on the competitor’s strategies in order to find out what could work for Myspace as well. Plan The following table provides an overview of the estimated time and costs for this project – subject to modifications. For now, I will conduct the research for three weeks, meaning that for example that the online community will be run for three weeks. Part| Time| Costs per hour| Costs per day| Creating online community(5 employees)| 8 hrs| EUR 10 (x5)| EUR 400| Leading discussion online(10 employees)| 3 wks (120 hrs)| EUR 8 (x10)| EUR 9600| Analyzing online community (10 employees)| 2 wks (80 hrs)| EUR 12 (x10)| EUR 9600| Developing questions for both onliny community and interview (4 employees)| 8 hrs| EUR 12 (x4)| EUR 384| Interviews (5 hrs per day)(10 interviewer)| 3 wks (75 hrs)| EUR 12 (x10)| EUR 9000| Evaluation Interview(10 employees)| 2 wks (80 hrs)| EUR 12 (x10)| EUR 9600| Total Costs for staff:| EUR 38584| Further costs: Possible travel costs (for interviewers):ca. EUR 300 Equipment (for Interviewers – recorders etc. ):ca. EUR 400 Technical equipment for online community:ca. EUR 10000 Total Costs:ca. EUR 49284 The additional costs might not apply if the equipment already exists. All prices are including value added taxes. Reflection In this paper I laid the foundation for a re-engineering of Myspace’s Business Model. Back in 2006 and 2007 I was a member of Myspace as well. However, I never liked this social network much since it was confusing, annoying because of all the advertising and I did not feel safe using it. Overall, it did not really work out. Now I am a Facebook user and I totally forgot about Myspace. Apparently, other social network users feel the same way which can be expressed by the declining number of Myspace users. Myspace became quite unpopular, fewer and fewer people visit that site and Facebook out-competed Myspace fast. Therefore I analyzed the problems that resulted in the failure of Myspace. The main overall problem is innovation. Myspace failed to add new features in order to make the platform interesting and worthwhile to keep using it. Myspace totally faded into obscurity wherefore it is essential to re-engineer at the media channels. Also, Myspace did not allow third party developers to help designing the page and add for example applications which not only would make the network more entertaining but also help generating revenues other than advertising. Instead, members were able to design their own profiles. This feature, however, resulted in an overall confusing design and safety problems. Safety problem arose from the bad software as it was easier to install for example spyware. Myspace could not meet the values that the customers need. Aside from bugs such as spyware, spam and phishing, users experienced a great lack of trust and privacy in that online network. To sum it up, I focused on the re-engineering of the following parts of the Business Model Canvas by Osterwalder and Pigneur (2009): Value Propositions, Media Channels, Key Partners, and Revenue Streams. All parts of the business model are connected though. That is why I analyzed all parts with regards to the others. My idea is that Myspace needs to be innovative. It can do so in analyzing both the values of customers and the best practices of the competitors and then adapt accordingly. With this method, Myspace can add new feature that will surely meet the customers’ desires. This is connected with a new design and key partners. Key partners can not only help with the design but also with innovation by adding applications that make Myspace more interesting. Furthermore, key partners would create another method of generating revenues. Then, Myspace would not only depend on advertising revenues and can reduce the annoying advertising to unostentatious, user-personalized advertising. After its changes, people need to be made aware of the new Myspace. This can be done with a short and catchy email to Myspace members who will then positively experience the re-engineered Myspace and spread the word. Additionally, television and Internet advertising campaigns might help to bring Myspace to the people’s minds. I am convinced that those methods and the further research, suggested in form of qualitative interviews, qualitative online community research and qualitative research on the competitors, would help Myspace to survive the competition in the online environment of social networks as well as stop a further downfall. References About Myspace. (2010). Retrieved November 1, 2011 from Myspace http://www. myspace. com/pressroom/2010/11/myspace-introduces-mashup-with-facebook/ Anderson, J. C. , Narus, J. A. , van Rossum, W. (2006). Customer Value Propositions in Business Markets. Harvard Business Review. Arrington, M. (2011, March 23). Amazingly, MySpace’s Decline is Accelerating. Retrieved October 29, 2011 from http://techcrunch. com/2011/03/23/amazingly-myspaces-decline-is-accelerating/ Bains, L. (2009). Facebook Overtakes MySpace as Most Popular Social Networking  Site. Retrieved November 2, 2011 from http://www. switched. com/2009/01/27/facebook-overtakes-myspace-as-most-popular-social-networking-sit/ Blodget, H. (2010). Ignore The Screams–Facebook's Aggressive Approach Is Why It Will Soon Become The Most Popular Site In The World. Retrieved November 2, 2011 from http://articles. businessinsider. om/2010-05-17/tech/29991115_1_ceo-mark-zuckerberg-facebook-s-pr-innovation Business model re-engineering. (n. d. ). Retrieved October 27, 2011 from AMR International http://www. amrinternational. com/services/corporate_and_business_unit_strategy/business_model_re-engineering Cauwels, P. , Sornette, D. (2011). Quis pendit ipsa pretia: facebook valuation and diagnostic of a bubble based on nonlinear demographic dynamics. Retrieved October 30, 2011 from Cornell University Library http://arxiv. org/abs/1110. 1319 Dwyer, C. , Hiltz, S. , Passerini, K. (2007). Trust and Privacy Concern Within Social Networking